Portland Flag Association Publication 1

Portland Flag Association “Free, and Worth Every Penny!” Issue 27 July 2010

Let Your Flags Wave

Most of you know that I maintain

a database of occasions to fly

flags. I don’t pretend that it is

absolute, but it is pretty thorough.

Some dates can be argued, but

none are without some prove-

nance. For example, Flag Day

does not necessarily equate to

our June 14th, but rather the day

that seems most important to the

flag of that country. I have

abridged the list drastically, taking

only one occasion per day for the

next two months and trying not

to repeat locations. If you find

any error, let me know—if you

have the flags, fly them.

(P) Primary Holiday (F) Flag Day

August 01- Switzerland (P) National

Day (1291)

August 02- British Columbia, Can. (P)

British Columbia Day

August 03- Niger (P) Independence Day

Let Your Flags Wave 1

Flag Retirement Ceremony 2

Flags in the News 3

July 2010 Flutterings 4

Next Meeting Announcement 5

Flag Related Websites 5

Flag Quiz 6

INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

“There is hopeful sym-

bolism in the fact that

flags do not wave in a

vacuum.”

— Arthur C. Clarke If you wish to compliment the editor, or to contribute in the future, contact John Hood

at 503-238-7666 or vivijohn@comcast.net. If you wish to complain, call your mother.

(1960) from France

August 04- Cook Islands, New Zealand

(P) Constitution Day (1965)

August 05- Peace River, BC, Can. (F)

Flag Adopted (1970)

August 06- Bolivia (P) Independence Day

(1825) from Spain

August 07- Larrakian Aboriginals, Aus.

(F) Flag First Flown (1996)

August 08- West Linn, OR, USA (P) City

Incorporated (1913)

August 09- Singapore (P) Independence

Day (1965) from Malaysia

August 10- Missouri, USA (P) Admission

Day (1821)

August 11- Chad (P) Independence Day

(1960) from France

August 12- Sacramento, CA, USA (F)

Flag Adopted (1989)

August 13- Central African Republic (P)

Independence Day (1960) from France

August 14- Pakistan (F) Independence

Day (1947) from UK

August 15- Asunción, Paraguay (P)

Founding of the City (1537)

August 16- Liechtenstein (P) Franz Josef

II's Birthday (1906)

August 17- Indonesia (P) Independence

Day (1945) from Netherlands

August 19- Bahrain (F) Flag Confirmed

(1972)

August 20- Flag Society of Australia (P)

Founding Day (1983)

August 22- Coquitlam, BC, Can. (P) City

Incorporated (1891)

(Continued on page 2)

By John Hood

Portland Flag Association Publication 2

Let Your Flags Wave

August 23- Doniawerstal, FR, Neth. (F)

Flag Adopted (1963)

August 24- Ukraine (P) Independence

Day (1991) from USSR

August 25- New Orleans, LA, USA (P)

City Founded (1718)

August 26- Red Deer, AB, Can. (F) Flag

Adopted (1977)

August 27- Phalaborwa, South Africa (F)

Flag Adopted (1979)

August 28- Saint Augustine, FL, USA

(P) City Founded (1565)

August 29- Slovakia (P) Slovak National

Uprisings Day (1968)

August 30- Tataria, Russia (P) Republic

Day (1990)

August 31- Montgomery County, MD,

USA (P) County established (1776)

September 01- Libya (P) Revolution Day

(1969)

September 02- Kosovo, Serbia (P) Procla-

mation of the Republic (1991)

September 03- Australia (F) Flag Day

(1901)

September 04- Nicaragua (F) Flag

Adopted (1908)

September 05- Saratov Region, Russia

(F) Flag Adopted (1996)

September 06- Bonaire, Netherlands

Antilles (P) Bonaire Day

September 07- Moscow, Russia (City) (P)

Founding of the City (1147)

September 08- Andorra (P) La Vierge de

Meritxell

September 09- California, USA (P) Ad-

mission Day (1850)

September 11- Catalonia, Spain (P) Cata-

lonia Day (1977)

(Continued from page 1)

September 12- American Indian

Movement (P) National Sovereignty

Day (1995)

September 13- Palestine (P) Self Gov-

ernment (1993)

September 14- Regina, SK, Can. (F)

Flag Granted (1992)

September 15- Boston, MA, USA (P)

City Founded (1630)

September 16- Mexico (P) Began War

of Independence (1810) from Spain

September 17- Tuva, Russia (F) Flag

Adopted (1992)

September 18- Chile (P) Independence

Day (1810) from Spain

September 19- Saint Kitts and Nevis

(P) Independence Day (1983) from UK

September 20- Tulsa County, OK,

USA (F) Flag Adopted (1975)

September 21- Malta (P) Independence

Day (1964) from UK

September 22- Mali (P) Independence

Day (1960) from France

September 23- Saudi Arabia (P) Foun-

dation of the Kingdom (1932)

September 24- Kwazulu/Natal, South

Africa (P) King Shaka's Birthday (1787)

September 25- Derio, Biscay, Spain (F)

Flag Adopted (2003)

September 26- Ecuador (F) Flag Day

(1860)

September 27- Barra, Hebrides, UK

(P) St. Barr's (Finnbar) Day

September 28- Thailand (F) Flag Day

(1917)

September 29- Falkland Islands, UK

(F) Flag Adopted (1948)

September 30- Botswana (P) Botswana

Day (1966) independence from UK

The Flag Code: Title 4, United

States Code, Chapter 1, Section 8 (k)

- (Respect for the flag), states: The

flag, when it is in such condition

that it is no longer a fitting emblem

for display, should be destroyed in

a dignified way, preferably by burn-

ing.

On Flag Day, Monday June 14, Mi-

chael Orelove and Kathleen Forrest

went to Willamette National Ceme-

tery for a flag retirement ceremony.

Michael has been to various flag re-

tirement ceremonies and noted that

each one is different, since there

are no "official" procedures for

disposing of the flags. This ceremony

included a bagpiper and military

honor guard. A few speakers spoke

about honoring the flag and the

military personnel who fought under

the flag and those who died. The

Pledge of Allegiance was said. Mi-

chael and others brought flags for

disposal.

The cemetery has a special container

for the flag disposal, which is a pro-

pane fueled metal box, open at the

top. The honor guard took one of

the flags and while two members

held the flag horizontally, as if to

fold it, another member cut out the

canton and then each of the 13

stripes. The 14 pieces were then

placed into the container and burned.

This was the end of the ceremony.

Then the other flags, which were

not cut, were placed in the fire.

Flag Retirement

Ceremony By Michael Orelove

Portland Flag Association Publication 3

Flags in the News and Elsewhere

On the trail of Lewis and Clark

Michael Orelove and Kathleen Forrest

went to the end of the Lewis and Clark

trail at Cape Disappointment in Wash-

ington State, across the Columbia River

from Astoria Oregon. They took a 15

star and 15 stripe American flag with

them.

This flag became the official United

States flag on May 1, 1795. Two stars

and two stripes were added for the ad-

mission of Vermont and Kentucky.

Ken Ray in Salem has proven that

you don’t have to attend meetings

to participate. He sent pictures of a

vintage card game he found on line.

Has anyone else seen or played this

game? It appears to be c. 1908-

1912 since there are 46 stars on the

U.S. Flag, although the pattern is

wrong. It should be 8-7-8-8-7-8

rather than 8-7-8-7-8-8. Appar-

ently, several manufacturers mar-

keted this game around the turn of

the last century.

America was now represented by a 15

star, 15 stripe banner, the first and only

time the flag officially had more than thir-

teen stripes.

Captains Meriwether Lewis and William

Clark carried this flag on their journey

from St. Lewis to the Pacific Ocean.

Michael and Kathleen carried their flag

from Gresham and Troutdale to the

ocean.

John Niggley told about, and subse-

quently emailed pictures of, a project

his uncle undertook. His uncle has a

mountain house north of Atlanta and

has a Coca-Cola logo on the barn.

After building a new retaining wall, he

thought it should also be decorated.

Here was part of the process:

(Continued on page 5)

Michael raises the flag

Michael Orelove is growing an

American flag in his flower bed at his

home in Gresham. The flowers for

the stripes of the flag are Impatiens:

“Accent Scarlet” for the red stripes

and “Accent White” for the white.

The flowers for the blue canton are

“Crystal Palace” Lobelia. Michael is

holding a sparkler to celebrate the

4th of July at his garden bed.

Portland Flag Association Publication 4

Michael Orelove showed us a copy

of the National Geographic Maga-

zine of October 1917, the flag

number, he found on the internet.

It’s good to know that there are still

copies out there; after all, about

750,000 were printed. For years it

was the reference for anyone inter-

ested in flags. He also promised to

order 4”x6” table flags of the new

PFA Flag, to be available to anyone

at his cost. Michael also showed a

book he had picked up. It was

Randy Howe’s 2nd edition of Flags

of the Fifty States. The first edition

was rife with errors, so hopefully

this edition is better.

Patrick Genna brought several tid-

bits for “Flags in the News,” also

his flag puzzler.

This flag flew for one year some-

where in the Midwestern United

States in 1904. It is at the conflu-

ence of two great rivers. In 1965, a

new flag was adopted to com-

memorate the 200th anniversary if

this city. For guessing correctly that

this was St. Louis, Missouri, Patrick

gave John Niggley a flag of Sweden.

Scott Mainwaring brought us up to

date on the web site for our group.

He has also been buying books that

he hasn’t yet read, thus no reviews.

Capture the Flag by Arnaldo Testi

July 2010 Flutterings You Need to Know

sees the symbolism of the flag

through the eyes of a foreign his-

torian, while Haitian Vodou

Flags by Patrick Arthur Polk is

just that—an illustrated history of

the trappings of the vodou cul-

ture. Scott’s last book was The

Soiling of Old Glory by Louis P.

Masur.

It is the story of the Pulitzer Prize

winning photograph taken by

Stanley Forman in Boston on

April 5, 1976, during the racial

tensions over forced bussing.

Fred Paltridge showed a ten min-

ute video taken from NPR about

the early stars and stripes. It fea-

tured interviews and remarks by

Dr. Whitney Smith and Jim Ferri-

gan.

David Ferriday, being an architect

with lots of books on the subject,

noticed the American Flags Frank

Lloyd Wright put in the stained

glass windows of the Coonley

Playhouse in Riverside, IL. In

this window it is in the lower right

corner.

Ted Kaye showed us a beautifully

carved and inlaid wooden box (but

no cigars) in the form of the Cuban

flag that Mason brought back from

a visit there. He also showed an

album of Kensitas cigarettes that

holds small silk pictures of flags

from many nations. Ted reminded

us that NAVA 44 is coming up in

October in Los Angeles, and that

next year, NAVA 45 will coincide

with ICV 24 in July in Washington,

DC.

John Hood shared the English

speaking periodicals he receives

with the group, and also told of an

interesting incident that happened

recently. A young man came to the

door and said that he was involved

in the Japanese immersion school

nearby. The school currently had

about a dozen college-aged interns

living at host homes in the area and

was introducing them to various

aspects of our culture. Since “The

Flag House” is iconic in the

neighborhood, he thought a tour of

the flags and a brief history would

broaden their horizons. Vivian

baked some cookies and bars and

John showed off his flags, starting

(Continued on page 5)

Portland Flag Association Publication 5

with the Hinomaru. He also had

Whitney Smith’s Flags Through

the Ages…” opened to the Japa-

nese prefecture flags.

(Continued from page 4)

The Culbertson Guidon from the 1876

Battle of the Little Bighorn has been

valued at $2 million to $5 million and

will be auctioned by Sotheby‟s some-

time in October.

The Pawtucket Rangers carrying the

Grand Union Flag and the flag of the

1st and 2nd Newport Artillery.

Raising the „Flag‟—and the Auction

Stakes

From the estate of the author Mi-

chael Crichton, Christie’s sold Jas-

per Johns’ work, Flag, for $28.6

million, far above the expected

price of $10 million.

Flags in the News

Patrick Genna pays more attention to

the newspapers than I do and has sub-

mitted the following articles:

(Continued from page 3)

The next meeting of the Portland

Flag Association will be at 7 p.m.,

Thursday, September 9, 2010, at

Mike Hale’s house, 4904 SW Martha

St., telephone (503) 245-5283. See

the map below.

We look forward to seeing those of

you who have been otherwise com-

mitted, see some different flags, and

have some provocative discussion.

If you can’t get to the meeting, per-

haps you can give the editor some-

thing to share.

September Meeting

Some Flag Related Websites

NAVA http://www.nava.org

Portland Flag Association http://

www.portlandflag.org

Flag Institute (United Kingdom)

http://www.flaginstitute.org

Flags of the World http://

www.fotw.net

Elmer’s Flag & Banner http://

www.elmersflag.com

Darwin, Northern Territory

(Australia) http://

www.nationalflags.com.au

Flag Society of Australia http://

www.flagsaustralia.com.au

Flag Research Center http://

www.flagresearchcenter.com

Southern African Vexillological

Assoc. http://www.savaflags.org.za

Vexillological Association of The

State of Texas http://

www.texflags.org

July 2010 Flutterings

Portland Flag Association Publication 6

What’s that Flag? What Was that Flag? Answers to the last quiz

Flags with faces—where are they

from?

These were the simplest flags in the

world. Did you get any besides the

green and the black?

Sultanate of Muscat and Oman until

1970

Lebanon, Historical—Mamluk

Sultanate 1288-1516

Libya 1977-

Spain, Historical —Sanlúcar de Bar-

rameda Maritime Province 1845-1894

Jaén Province, Andalusia, Spain

Sweden, Historical—Ensign of the

Archipelago Fleet 1761-1813

Anarchism

Afghanistan, Taliban 1996-1997

International Maritime Signal Flag

Bravo—Loading or unloading

explosives